When a lot of people think of gamers,
they automatically think of mostly male teens who sit around a game
console or computer screen all day playing alone. The reality is that
the average gamers today are in their 30's and have a significant
disposable income to support the expensive hobby. More and more women
are also becoming gamers.

A new study recently found that
women tend to be more
hardcore gamers than men are, but they also tend to lie about how
much time they spend playing games. More and more people are also
playing games that are closely tied to social networks like MySpace
and Facebook.

These gamers often report that they play the
games not so much for the game itself, but to interact with friends
and family. The virtual economy that was created to cater to the
goods that many of these social games sell is booming. BBC News
reports that the virtual economy in the U.S. is set
to make billions selling goods that don’t really exist. The
sale of virtual goods is one of the hottest trends in technology and
is showing no signs of letting up.

Venture Capitalist Jeremy
Liew said, "This [virtual goods] is just an exploding part of
the gaming business right now. It is the most exciting area in
gaming."

Liew's company Lightspeed Venture Partners has
invested about $10 million in virtual goods so far. He said, "We
have seen companies go from nothing in the last 18-24 months to tens
and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue."

Virtual
goods like fertilizer and seeds in farming games are big sellers and
there are a myriad of other games that sell virtual goods to players
seeking to get ahead. Social gaming firm Playfish says that virtual
goods are key to its success.

Playfish's Tom Sarris told BBC
News, "Virtual items within the Playfish games are the
centre point of the way in which Playfish derives its revenue."
He continued saying, "We have two different revenue models. The
primary is the sale of virtual goods and the second is in-game
advertising, but that is a very minor aspect at this stage."

Liew
says that making the lion's share of revenue from digital goods is
very common for social gaming companies. He says that virtual goods
often make up 90-95% of the revenue for the game developers. Virtual
goods and the games that sell them are attracting women in increasing
numbers and the players don’t consider themselves to be average
gamers.

Social gamer Emma Cox told BBC News she only
plays to keep in contact with friends and family. She said, "I
am not a traditional gamer. I don't buy console games or go out and
spend $40 on a game for my PlayStation." She continued saying,
"I am playing online games for a different reason and it's
instant gratification, playing with friends, showing off to others
and have them see all the virtual goods you have bought for yourself
and even for them."

Cox and other players like her buy
things like digital birthday cards, bottles of digital champagne,
seeds and fertilizer, and other items for virtual games. Gamers and
the game firms behind the popular titles liken the buying of digital
goods to renting movies. Cox said, "The way we look at it is
it's no different from paying money to go and see a movie or rent a
DVD. What you are paying for is the experience and that notion of
entertainment."

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